Iain Lindley, 25, was last night selected to fight the newly drawn Worsley and Eccles South seat at the next general election.
Not only did University of York-educated Iain grow up in the constituency, but he lives there to this day and has represented the Walkden South ward on Salford council since 2004. He is Salford's Conservative representative on the Greater Manchester Fire Authority, the Opposition Spokesman on Planning, the Deputy Chairman of City of Salford Conservative Federation and also Chairman of the governors at a local primary school. He has a longstanding blog and also runs the Vote UK politics discussion site.
The seat covers half of the existing Worsley constituency and half of the current Eccles seat, both of which are currently represented by Labour MPs. The Labour MP for Worsley, Barbara Keeley, will be fighting the Worsley and Eccles South seat, where she will defend a notional Labour majority of 10,001 (based on the Rallings and Thrasher calculations) over the Conservatives, which means Iain requires a swing of 12.8% to gain the seat. However, it bodes well for Iain that the Conservatives were calculated to hold a lead of 12% over Labour across the new constituency at the 2008 local elections.
Iain said on his selection:
"It is a huge honour and privilege to have been selected as the Prospective Conservative MP for Worsley and Eccles South. The local communities which make up the new constituency have been badly let down by the Labour Party both locally and nationally - the resounding defeat last month of Labour's Congestion Charge is just the latest example of how out-of-touch Labour have become from the concerns of residents.
"The Conservative Party has made huge strides throughout the City of Salford over the last few years. Worsley & Eccles South is a seat that can be won and I look forward to the challenge of showing that the Conservative Party can provide the change that local residents from Little Hulton to Cadishead need and deserve".
Jonathan Isaby
